Use Mastra with SaladCloud

Build a Mastra agent using the SaladCloud AI SDK provider and Salad AI Gateway.

Last Updated: September 17, 2026

Mastra is a framework for building AI agents and workflows. Connect an agent directly to Salad AI Gateway using the published SaladCloud AI SDK provider and qwen3.6-35b-a3b. AI Gateway is in beta with pay-per-token billing.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22.13.0 or newer
• A SaladCloud account, credits, and an organization-specific AI Gateway API key from Pay-Per-Token Onboarding

Step 1: Install the Packages

In a new project directory:

npm init -y
npm pkg set type=module
npm install @mastra/core@^1.67.0 @saladtechnologies-oss/ai-sdk-provider@^0.2.0

For an existing project, keep its configuration and install the packages in that project. Mastra added support for AI SDK 7 model providers in @mastra/core version 1.47.0; this guide uses the newer 1.67.0 release line. See Mastra’s AI SDK 7 support documentation.

Step 2: Set Your API Key

Create .env:

SALAD_CLOUD_API_KEY=your-ai-gateway-api-key

Add .env to .gitignore. Keep this key server-side and do not use your regular SaladCloud API key in its place. The SaladCloud provider supplies the Gateway endpoint and Bearer authentication automatically.

Step 3: Create the Agent

Create agent.js:

agent.js

import { Agent } from '@mastra/core/agent'
import { saladCloud } from '@saladtechnologies-oss/ai-sdk-provider'

export const agent = new Agent({
  id: 'salad-assistant',
  name: 'Salad Assistant',
  instructions: 'You are a helpful assistant. Give clear, concise answers.',
  model: saladCloud('qwen3.6-35b-a3b'),
})

Pass the model object returned by saladCloud(...). Do not replace it with the string salad-cloud/qwen3.6-35b-a3b: the models.dev listing does not currently add SaladCloud to Mastra’s built-in model registry. This direct SDK setup does not depend on that registry.

Step 4: Generate a Response

Create test.js:

test.js

import { agent } from './agent.js'

const result = await agent.generate('Explain distributed GPU computing in one paragraph.')
console.log(result.text)

node --env-file=.env test.js

You should see the model’s answer in the terminal. Requests are billed to your SaladCloud organization.

Stream a Response

Create stream.js:

stream.js

import { agent } from './agent.js'

const result = await agent.stream('Give three practical uses for an AI coding assistant.')
for await (const chunk of result.textStream) {
  process.stdout.write(chunk)
}
process.stdout.write('\n')

node --env-file=.env stream.js

Troubleshooting

• Unknown provider or model: use saladCloud('qwen3.6-35b-a3b') as shown, not a model-router string.
• Unsupported model version: upgrade @mastra/core to the version range above. The SaladCloud 0.2.0 package uses the AI SDK 7 provider interface.
• Missing API key or HTTP 401: check that .env contains SALAD_CLOUD_API_KEY, run Node with --env-file=.env, and use your organization’s AI Gateway key.